Indefinite Earth
by Gingerfloss
Summary: Gem Verse Prompt drabble/Oneshot collection! Focusing on various different themes and rated anything between K-M. Multi Paring and Multi length! Enjoy!
1. Bathtime

AU: Hey! This is my first dive into the world of Steven Universe Fic, and of course its a prompts game, be ready for masses of Pearl/Amethyst and Ruby/Sapphire! Most of these haven't been edited and have been written in less than a hour, Its been such a long time since i've actually concentrated on writing anything thats not University work!

Please feel free to like and review!

~Gingerfloss x

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(Prompt: Bathtime!)

Rose bit her lip as she watched the two much younger gems belting around the beach in circles, squealing in annoyance at each other as neither of them seemed to manage to their goal. She'd been amazed to discover that pearl had finally accepted the kindergarten gem, especially after the amount of time she'd spent yelling about how she wasn't safe to have around her or really anyone else. Of course, she hadn't told Rose this, and she'd constantly scowled and acted with complete distain whenever they were in a room together, but Rose had her suspicions that she wasn't completely over the crush she'd tried to hide (and failed) for the past millennium.

"Amethyst! Come back! You need a bath!" Pearl yelled, stopping dead in her tracks in the hope the other was going to crash into her: "You can't stay that dirty!"

"No!" The youngest gem squealed, noticing the mass of pink curls peaking around the door and belting straight towards them, surprisingly fast for a child that had only just figured out that she could walk, and didn't have to crawl everywhere: "Rose help!"

She laughed, scooping her up before the muck-coated purple gem could attack her freshly-cleaned skirts: "Oh Amethyst, you really do need a wash… you're not even the right colour anymore."

The youngest gem squealed in annoyance at that, kicking and failing in an attempt to escape: "No! No way! I don't need it!"

"I think Pearl might be ill if you start running around the house that dirty, Amethyst…" Rose laughed, crossing the beach with the little one still clamped in her hands, holding her out to Pearl with a smile of bemusement: "Here you go, next time, maybe you could use a net to catch her?" She teased, making the other gem scowl in frustration.

"Or you could catch her." Pearl grumbled, taking Amethyst awkwardly and trying to hold her away from her body, cheeks flushing slightly the same way they always did when Rose was marching back into the house with her, trying to keep her from messing up her clothes: "She seems to like you better than me!"

Grumbling, she carried the little purple gem up the stairs and into her room, glad that she'd always appreciated water, her room was a beautiful torrent of fountains and pale lights, and meant that she wasn't going to have to try and wash her in the sea. That would have probably been even worse.

How the young gem always managed to be such a mess she'd ever understand.

The younger didn't stop kicking all the way into her room, almost screaming as she tried to drop her into the water, scrambling up her arm, nails bared and biting as she fought, finally managing to crawl all the way up and hide around her shoulders, howling in fright.

"Ow! Ow stop!" Pearl yelled, trying to tug her off her shoulders and get in into the water: "Amethyst! Whats wrong?!"

"Can't swim!" She squealed, flailing in fright and clutching at her hair: "Don't make me!"

The other paused, wide eyed in confusion at the thought of that. She'd never even had to think about it, swimming and water had come naturally, almost as if she had an affinity with it. She'd never head of a gem that didn't know how to swim.

"You can't?" She asked stupidly, trying to take her down still: "I thought Gems where…. Programed to…"

The purple-skinned gem growled, scrambling forwards and hanging her head over the others, scowling at her: "I'm not. _Obviously_."

The older was about to snark at her when she remembered, and her expression almost softened: "Fine. I'll _teach_ you."

She'd finished teaching her years ago, but their strange little habit of bathing together had never changed, and Pearl was the only one still trusted to wash Amethysts hair. Tonight was no different, the purple gem had come barrelling into her room out of nowhere and cannonballed straight into the nearest pool, wooping her delight.

"Coming, P? Or are you gonna spend all night staring at those swords again?"

"I'm coming… and _I was organizing,_ Not staring." She quipped, waving her weapons away and stepping lightly across the water, her dress disappearing in one fluid movement (of course, Amethyst never remember that washing shouldn't really involve clothes) and diving down perfectly beside the other, righting herself and flicking away her hair.

"Nah, I'd call it staring, you look like you're gonna kiss them." Amethyst teased, kicking water in her face as she spread herself out, floating on her back with a grin: "Maybe you should, P. Get some of that tension out."

The older turned almost dark blue in horror, squeaking in shock at the suggestion and darting backwards: "Y-you don't know what you're talking about!"

"No…. I _suppose_ I don't." She smirked, flipping over in the water with little decorum and starting to breaststroke towards the other: "Maybe you should try looking at something else like that. Maybe something with _feelings_?"

Pearl snorted, turning her back on the other and swimming away: "Things with feelings cause _exactly_ that problem. _Feelings_."


	2. Ache

Prompt (Ache)

"You're jealous." It was a statement of fact rather than a suggestion, and it was probably true. Pearl scowled, glancing sideways at the purple gem that dumped herself down next to her, beaming as she bit into the cupcake she'd brought with her: "You don't like watching Rose get fat with that human baby."

"I don't care." The other protested, folding her arms tight across her chest with a glare of irritation at the other: "Why would I? Rose likes it. And Its her decision if she wants to have Gregs….baby." That word tasted almost sour in her mouth, looking away as her expression darkened.

"You do care!" The younger pointed out, tipping her head back slightly as she swallowed the last of her food, and shifting slightly to drop her entire weight on the others lap, beaming up at her as she flicked the hair out of her eyes to examine her: "You've not look anywhere else since she told you! You've done nothing but stare at Rose for ages. You even forgot to complain about me eating."

Pearl scowled so hard her entire face screwed up, huffing as she glanced down at the other on her legs: "You like eating so much theres no point telling you not to." She pointed out, her eyebrows knitted together: "Every time I do, you find something else to demolish in front of me."

Amethyst snorted, stretching both arms up in the air above her head and beaming at the other: "Your face is hilarious when I eat weird stuff, P! Makes it worth the stomach ache."

"I'm not surprised you get pains, Sand and wood are not edible things." She grumbled, trying to push the other off her lap in an almost lazy fashion. She could have shoved the other off in one movement if she'd wanted to, but secretly she was enjoying the distraction from the strange feelings that had been pulling at her stomach. She'd never felt anything this uncomfortable before, usually when anything was bothering her, she'd go and talk to Rose until the pink gem managed to sort out how she was feeling. But Rose was the problem this time. And she couldn't exactly march up to her dearest friend and complain about her being pregnant, especially when she seemed to be so thrilled about the prospect of being a mother.

The purple gem sprawling on her had noticed the strange shift in her friend four days ago, when Rose had come bounding into the room with the strange pregnancy stick thing in her hand, almost squealing as she spilled the news to all three of her friends at once. Of course, they'd all be polite and excited about it, but privately, Amethyst suspected that they'd all had completely different opinions on what their leader had decided to do.

Garnet had disappeared into her room almost moments after Rose had bounced out of the temple again, probably because she was struggling to stay in one piece, Amethyst couldn't imagine Ruby and Sapphire agreeing on their new discovery. As much as they boasted about fitting together perfectly, She was pretty convinced that the entirety of beach city knew about it when they disagreed, their completely contrasting personalities where a sight to behold.

And Pearl had gone strangely quiet, and seemed to be caught in a daydream. Amethyst herself hadn't even bothered to worry about it, she was far too busy being excited and bouncing around Roses legs with a grin, helping her examine a pile of baby magazines and information, completely confused by the amount of weird things a baby seemed to need.

"Aww P, You should try eating sometime. It's a good distraction!" She pointed out, grinning up at her as she shifted to run her hand through the others hair, fluffing it: "Or try alcohol. Viv gave me some and it makes you all fluffy."

The elder snorted in surprise at that suggestion: "Seriously? Have you never thought about how disgusting it is to eat? Or drink? Its all squishy and gross and… yuck."

Amethyst laughed: "Yeah well, you think everythings gross. Come on, lets go find you some cake and booze!"

For the first time, the older gem didn't protest when she was grabbed and pulled to her feet and dragged out of the door. Maybe she might actually know how to stop this strange ache inside her.


	3. Profanity

Prompt (Profanity)

" **Fuck**! _Ow_!" Pearl cursed, dropping the pan in her hand with a yelp of pain and surprise, she hadn't realised she could feel heat that sharply before, probably because she'd never tried to heat anything before. The human word had been a surprise too, she wasn't even quite sure where she'd learnt it, probably from him. Everything that was bothering her today seemed to be entirely because of him

Ignoring the metal as it crashed to the floor she cradled her hand to herself, examining the darker blue marks blooming across her palm and the snuffling noises coming from the cradle dumped on the table behind her: "Ow…"

"Stevens gonna hear you if you keep talking like that~!" The youngest of the three gems was dangling over her, sticking her head between the bars of the upper room they'd closed off for Steven to use when he was older. If he ever made it that far.

"You _could_ come and help me." She hissed, looking up the other with a scowl of frustration, cuddling her burnt hand close to her to try and hide that marks before the other noticed and decided to comment on that too: "If you're that concerned about my _language_ in front of him."

"No need to be that cross, P." Amethyst smirked, rolling through the bars and tumbling down to land with a resounding thump beside her: "Didn't know a little burn made you this bad tempered."

"Hmph." The other sniffed a little haughtily as she turned away, decidedly leaving the puddle of water and the milk that she'd been trying to sort out to the other and bending over the tiny human in the box, checking that he was still at least alive: "Its not my fault I don't know how to feed him, someone forgot to tell me how. And apparently he can't eat the nonsense you do."

"That's cos he's a baby… and he needs this milk stuff." The purple gem grinned as she scooped up the pan and the bottle, shaking it as she glanced at the other, her usual playful attitude curling up the corners of her lips as she held it out: "Garnet said it'll make him grow as big as Greg."

Pearls expression of irritation didn't falter as she snatched the bottle from the others hand, scooping the baby up in one arm and offering the liquid to him: "Great. Another human."

The other gem just beamed, bounding across the room in three movements to watch her as she feed the bundle of star patterned blankets, deciding to change the subject: "You're just annoyed Greg asked us to babysit, P." She crowed, stretching one arm above her head as she looked up at the other: "You don't like not being allowed to vanish off when he'd about, cos you're the only one that's trusted with the baby."

"I am not annoyed! You think I have problems looking after…Roses… son?" The end of her sentence trailed away as she glanced down at the baby, he'd found the bottle and curled one hand up around it, his tiny pale fingertips pressed over her, her frustration slacking for a moment in surprise. The child didn't seem to have a clue about how she felt towards him, or what he'd cost them. All he cared about right in that moment was eating.

Amethyst watched her with the slightest of smiles, looking up into her friends eyes as she gazed at the little creature: "Dunno, P. He seems to like you more than he did yesterday, he ain't vomited on you yet."

Pearl wrinkled her nose at the remaindered, scowling at the baby then across at the other: "Did you have to remind me?"

"Course, I've never seen you look so mad!"


	4. Mistake?

"Sapphire! I didn't mean to!" Ruby complained, following the other with a pout of frustration, ignoring the looks of complete confusion she was being shot by the others that had been outside with them.

The other gem didn't turn around, her arms crossed over her chest in annoyance as she stared out at the open water in front of her, it was almost the same deep blue shade as her dress in the late night sunset. Earth had been wonderful so far, so much more peaceful that homeworld, and nobody had been trying to force the two of them to stop speaking to each other.

But it had been the moment that it became more than just speaking that it had become a problem, the first time their lips had met hidden behind a training building, when they'd both suddenly, messily realised that it was more than just friendship, that homeworld had started to become a problem. It wasn't that they discouraged fusion, it was a useful tactic sometimes, and it could have some very powerful results. But the two young gems fusion was dubbed to be less than satisfactory, and was an act of affection, not a tactical move, and they'd been dragged apart by force barley weeks after that first kiss.

Sapphire had never known anything could hurt that much and she had trained in the same way that every young gem had to for long enough that she understood the pain one gem could cause another, but this feeling was deeper, more intense, like someone had dragged out half of her heart.

Even her future vision wasn't helping, she wasn't sure how to control it yet, and nobody in the prison she was held in had any desire to help her learn. Gems needed to train in specific skills to learn to fully control their powers, and from her lessons as a gemling, she'd discovered that the psychological powers took the longest to learn to control. So in the time she'd been left with, she focused on the other skill she had discovered, her affinity with ice, and wasted hours learning to create intricate patterns on the celling in time to the songs she'd been making up in her head about Ruby, glad that they hadn't yet arrived to force her back into her gem form and lock her away until they found a use for her.

They'd been in forced separation for over a millennium (or at least that's how it felt) when Rose Quartz had come cascading into Sapphires life. Rose was well known. The homeworld equivalent of a scientist, she'd done extensive work into the logic behind gems, especially how fusion worked and what it could do for a gem. The younger gem had only ever heard of her through rumours and stories from the older gems, especially about her affinity with everything pink.

But the kind, curly-haired woman that broke through her containment shield was not what she expected, especially when she smiled.

"Good afternoon, Sapphire." She beamed, kneeling down a little to speak to her, Rose must have been at least eight feet in height, and Sapphire was barely breaking four.

"H-hi?" She almost squeaked, it had been so long since she'd interacted with another gem that her voice seemed to stick in the back of her throat.

"How are you today? I heard you singing." The older explained, a holographic tablet in one had as she looked the younger over, summoning the ability to scan the other.

"Oh…" The blue gem muttered, looking away shyly: "I-I was… bored…"

"I'm not surprised; you have been in here a long time." Rose chuckled as she finished her scans, tucking away the device and offering her hands to the other to help her to her feet: "Would you like to help me with something? I was investigating a problem that I think you may be the solution to."

Sapphire nodded without thinking, a sudden feeling of warmth building inside her stomach, as if something was insisting that she needed to trust the new gem.

Silently, she followed the other through the halls, internally amazed to see the mountains of technology covering every surface of the building, running through details and protocols of missions around the cosmos. On the night she'd arrived she'd been far too distracted to take any notice of the world around her.

Rose just beamed at everything, leading her through a final door and into a whitewashed training room.

Sapphire hadn't realised the room was occupied until she heard the squeal of surprise and delight from the other side, and a bright red warmth came bolting towards her, both arms thrown tight around her with a squeal.

"Sapphy!"

"Ru-Ruby?!"

For a few moments there was nothing more than squealing and kisses, the two gems wrapped around each other before a gentle noise from behind them stopped them before they could fuse.

Rose smiled down at the two of them as she summoned more of her equipment, setting it down on the table and looking them both over: "I brought you both here because I'm investigating your ability to fuse." She explained as if their reunion hadn't interrupted her speech, settling down as she crossed one leg over the other: "From my prior research, I discovered that neither of you have full control over your abilities, but you both seem completely capable of fusing..."

Ruby lent over slightly and wrapped her hand around the others slowly, encasing her ice cold touch in her warmth.

"…So, I wanted to see for myself, how you manage to fuse… If you don't mind?"

Rose's curiosity became an escape for the two of them, and every day the pink gem would collect her two young test subjects and allow them to fuse, satisfying their desperate need to be together. Sapphire began to expect that Rose didn't actually need them around, her investigations seemed to have finished after the first week, and their fusion form was mainly being used as a sounding board for her yattering as she worked. Garnet was surprisingly quiet for the fusion of the two most talkative gems that Rose Quartz had ever met.

The day they left for earth was exactly the same as every other day they'd spent together, Rose had collected them, scanned them and allowed them to fuse in five minutes flat, and proceeded to use Garnet to carry another pile of her experiments around the building.

But when her work was finished, and she'd instructed the two of them to de-fuse, Rose didn't lead them back to their cells. Instead, she lead them down a corridor they hadn't been through before, down a second flight of stairs and pressed a bundle into Rubys arms.

"You're going to need these." She explained quickly, not looking around, pulling a door open and leading the two of them into the lower deck of a ship already crowded with other gems: "I'm taking you both to a new land with me, I need your help to investigate."

Sapphire felt the pressure on her hand increase, Ruby was obviously as unsure about this as she was, Rose was usually so talkative that she'd have mentioned this days ago.

There was something she wasn't telling them.

But if it was between blindly following Rose and being forced apart again, She didn't need to ask the other what their decision was going to be.

Ruby finally caught up with her girlfriend, gently placing her hand against her shoulder in an attempt to turn her around, but Sapphire moved without needed to be prompted, throwing both arms around her in one movement, nuzzling into her neck.

"I know. I forgive you."


	5. Naptime

(Prompt: Naptime)

"Do you ever _shut up_?"

"Nah. Whats the point in that?"

"It means other people can focus on what they're doing."

"You should focus on me!"

"Why would I? You're not doing anything interesting."

"You never think _anything_ I do is interesting."

"Because all _you_ do is waste time."

Amethyst grumbled in frustration, swinging herself down from her perch on the rock in one movement and landing on top of the other gem who'd been laying on the floor on her front, a hardback book clamped in both hands, grinning down at her: "We have plenty of time! Not like we're going anywhere anytime soon…"

Pearls yelp of irritation as she was winded was completely wasted on the other, trying to push her off would probably just as pointless, Amethyst was surprisingly strong when she wanted to be. The younger gem beamed as crawled up her back, plucking the book from the others grasp, shaking it open upside down with a frown: "…What is this? I didn't know you could read!"

"Of course I can read!" The lighter snapped, reaching behind her back to grab it: "It's a useful skill. You should learn."

"Why bother? You can just do it for me." Amethyst pointed out, throwing the book aside and flopping bodily on top of the other, using her as a pillow: "And you'd probably tell me I was making it up anyway."

"I'm not a pillow!" Pearl complained, prodding at the lump on top of her and decidedly brushing off the others comment, she was right. She wouldn't have believed her: "Do you have to sleep right there?"

"Yup. Best place for me to focus." She smirked; spreading her arms out and settling down, her head buried between the others shoulder blades: "And sleep…"

The older gem knew she'd lost the battle when she started talking about sleep, once the purple gem made up her mind about that, she wasn't going to get off. And the weight of her curled up there wasn't exactly uncomfortable, she was almost as warm as Steven when he decided to take a nap.

Scowling, Pearl grabbed back her book from where the other had thrown it, and one of Stevens abandoned pillows from that mornings fort building experience, tucking it under her chin as she propped the book back open: "Fine. If you _must_ do it there."

Amethyst was fast asleep before she'd even finished her complaint.


	6. Remember?

(Is this AU? I'm not sure… but have my first attempt at Lapis things.)

(Prompt: Remember)

It had been the sight of the Shield that had made Lapis feel her stomach turn over, a sudden, clenching knot building inside her. She knew exactly who that belonged to, it had been haunting her dreams for millenniums, the glowing pink mirage in front of her, enveloping her… and breaking her. She knew Steven could summon it, but she'd never been quite so close to the wrong side of it

Darting backwards in shock she tripped over her own feet, landing with a thud in the sand.

"Its awesome, right?" Steven beamed, waving his arm as the light dissipated: "Garnet said I'm getting really good at summoning it when I want to."

"Yes… You are." She forced a smile, scrambling backwards a little as he approached her, holding out his hand with a look of complete confusion.

"Are you okay?" The human boy asked, a look of complete confusion plastered across his face, he hadn't been expecting that kind of reaction from the gem he'd come to know as a friend. It had been month since they'd finally managed to rescue her, and she'd managed to settle into life as a crystal gem without too many problems: "You look scared…"

Lapis just about managed to turn her smile up a few notches, telling the child why she'd panicked seemed cruel, he wasn't old enough to understand. He didn't need to know about the other side of his mother: "I'm fine… but I think someones calling you."

Steven grinned, making sure he'd helped her up before he turned around and darted back towards the temple, yelling something about being back in a minute. Lapis watched him leave, making sure he was out of sight before she let her expression drop.

The last time anyone had used that shield around her, she'd ended up stuck. Rose Quartz had always been interested in science, and it was common knowledge among the gems that she'd been taking particular interest in experiments and fusions over the last few years, she when she'd summoned Lapis to her lab she hadn't thought anything of it.

The blue gem wasn't even sure how it had happened, Rose had handed her a mirror, and asked her to concentrate when suddenly the world had suddenly burnt bright pink, encasing her in warmth. It hadn't seemed like much of a problem, until the mirror in her hand had started to vibrate, something almost completely clear pouring out, crystalizing into hand like formations, reaching out from the depths of the glass surface and fastening themselves around her.

She should have know there was something wrong when the pink light appeared, the light wasn't just light, it was the reflection from Roses bubble.

With a cry of pain, Lapis felt the sharp dig of pain between her shoulder blades, and the world infront of her flooded with white, turning the same colour as sour milk.

And then there was nothing.

The next thing she remembered was Stevens voice, coming through the mist that had been clouding her head. How she'd managed to mimic him and the things he'd seen that day she'd never understand, it had probably been out of shear desperation to escape.

She'd put together what Rose must have done to her from asking careful questions of the other gems, she'd trapped her in that mirror. And either on purpose, or by accident, her gem was shattered and the scientist had just left her there.

Clenching her fists in annoyance lapis glared out at the dark blue sea, twisting her hands and causing the water infront of her to curl up into torrents, showering her with droplets of the cooling liquid.

She couldn't take out how she felt on the child though, he'd saved her, he'd fixed her.

Maybe she'd find out the truth, before she tried to tell him.


	7. Dare

(Prompt: Dare)

"Drink it! Drink it!" Amethyst chanted, clapping her hands together in delight as she watched the older gem with the bottle in her hands. She'd come good on her word, and dragged the other away from the stresses of the temple to crash on the beach with her. Usually Pearl would have protested at just the thought of trying to eat or drink, but with everything that had been going on, she'd been surprisingly happy to follow her down onto the sand.

"All of it?"

" _Yes!_ Go!"

"Alright then…" With an expression that almost looked like a smile, Pearl finally tipped the bottle up and drained it in one go, shivering a little in surprise at the feeling running through her. She'd never really bothered to mess with human substances before, she wasn't like Amethyst, she'd been reserved and well behaved since they landed on earth. She had her suspicions the younger wasn't going to let her stay that way much longer.

"Gez, P. Never seen anyone like Whiskey that much!" The younger teased, taking the empty bottle and switching it for another full one from the bag that Vidalia had pressed into her hands after she'd bounced into her house with her plan to get her senior hammered: "You're gonna be drunk before me."

Amethysts joke came true almost an hour and three bottles of whiskey later, the two of them where sprawled out in the sand, the fire they'd build singing down into ash behind their heads.

"You know something Ame…" The older muttered, glancing sideways through the haze of alcohol that was clouding her vision and smiling at her. It seemed a gem alcohol capabilities where much higher than a humans, she'd watched Roses boyfriend fall asleep after barley three glasses, but it had been somewhere in the middle of the second bottle that she'd started to feel cotton wool in her head: "I don't actually hate you."

"Oh _really_?" The younger snorted, rolling onto her side to poke her in the head with a laugh: "You sure that's not just the booze talking, P?"

"Whiskey doesn't talk." She protested, batting the others fingertips away lightly before she started to poke at her gem. Amethyst probably didn't know what that would do, and she had not desire to let her find out: "It's a liquid. Can't speak."

The purple gem laughed, finishing her roll to prop herself up on her elbows, head still cocked in the direction of her partner: "Bet if I turned into a puddle I could talk."

"We're not supposed to turn into inanimate objects."

"Nah, _you_ ain't, homegirl. I've not no rules."

The older snorted, shifting herself as she rescued the bottle: "Be glad you're not. Homeworld loved rules, they had rules for everything. Even breathing."

"Breathing?" Amethyst grabbed the bottle out of the others hand and pressed it to her own mouth, sipping it as she cocked her head a little to throw a confused look at her: "How'd you get a rule on breathing?"

"Gems technically don't have to do it. So on homeworld, we were banned to save us using the brain power to do it."

"Breathing don't take brains."

"I know. You can do it." Pearl took the others look of complete horror to grab the bottle back, giggling at her expression.

"Asshole." Amethyst snorted, but her own grin was back: "So what else where you banned from?"

"Fusion… Relationships…. Freedom…" The older gem pushed the bottle back over and flopped back down into the sand, tucking one arm behind her head: "Friendship… _this_." She waved one arm in the air above her head, indicating the sky above her.

"Homeworld doesn't have a sky?" Amethyst asked, downing the remnants of the whiskey and throwing it behind her and into the dying fire.

"Not that." The other snapped: "It has one. I meant space… you can't even see the stars from there… When _Rose_ … she offered me the chance to got to space. To travel… to come here. I had to."

"So… whadd'ya really follow, Rose or what she offered?"

Pearl stopped midway through forming her answer, thinking about that. What had she followed? She'd never really wondered about that before. Rose had always been such an important gem to her that she'd convinced herself that it was her she'd followed.

Amethyst noticed the weird look on her accomplices face and moved, crawling through the sand to grab at the bag she'd brought again, pulling free the final bottle. It was something of Vidalias own creation, and the last time the purple gem had touched it, she'd worked up as a cat fast asleep on top of the big doughnut.

"Here." She pushed the bottle into the others hands and disturbed her from her daydream, grinning at her: "Drink that, then tell me."

The lighter didn't protest, uncorking it and sipping at the mixture with a slight frown: "Tastes like…weird."

"Viv called it soul medicine." Amethyst pointed out with a grin, scrambling back over and sitting infront of the other gem: "So come on, fess. Tell me everything."

With another, much deeper drink, she started to talk, beginning to come clean about the entire story to the younger, from the moment they'd left homeworld, to the moment they'd discovered the little amethyst gem still asleep in her kindergarten cell.

The youngest listened with an open mouth, starting at her in complete amazement as she made a hole in the bottle, pushing it back at the other to encourage her to keep talking, intent on finding out most of the story.

Unfortunately. Vidalia's concoction seemed to have plans for the two of them, and what could have easily been explained through a nice peaceful discussion quickly became a re-enactment. Pearl was on her feet, spear in hand as she dragged her friend up too, offering her the second blade as she recalled one of the tales she remembered from the war.

The more she explained, the louder they became, shrieking and singing as they neared the end of the tale, Amethyst summoning her own weapon to re-enact the crystal gems discovery of her, flicking the straps around the others ankles and toppling her to onto her ass exactly the same way she'd done then. The older gem cried her indignation and downed the last of the bottle just before the other collapsed down on top of her in a giggling heap.

Garnet had been sent to find the other two when Rose had noticed them missing after almost six hours, fearing that they'd been captured or tried to kill each other or something stupid. She suspected that Roses strange worries where somehow related to the seven month old baby inside her, but she'd done it anyway.

She hadn't expected to find the two gems passed out in the sand, curled up together in a pile of empty alcohol bottles and abandoned weapons. She'd never seen either of them asleep before, and it was almost amusing to watch.

Bending down, she scooped them both up, unceremoniously tucking one under each arm and heading back up to the temple, the first smile in months curling at the corners of her lips.


	8. Birth-Day

(Prompt: Birth-day)

 _"Give her back."_ Pressing the tip of her spear into the two day old baby's neck was probably not the right way to fix any of this, it probably wasn't going to change how she was feeling. The little ones eyes where still wide as he giggled, trying to reach up and curl his hands around the blade.

The night Rose gave birth there was no screaming, no pain or labour, just a sudden torrent of deep pink petals that came gushing from her room, flooding the chambers of the other three gems and pouring out into the temple. Gems didn't give birth the way that humans do, it would have been almost beautiful to watch, an explosion of joy as her gem broke into two. One half shifted, curling in mid-flight to form a huge, soft creature, its fluffy mane blossoming around its head as it shook the petals from its ears.

The second was tiny, the petals floating underneath it for support as it was gently lowered to the floor, bundling around it for safety as it was dropped into the scented torrent. The pink flood wound its way out of the temple, bearing the bundle aloft until it hit the midnight air, and the baby started to cry.

The strange, squeaky sound woke Greg from his slumber. He'd fallen asleep in the back of his van as usual, the doors thrown open to let in the warm summer breeze. Rose had never said he couldn't share her room, but he'd almost always preferred to be outside, for one thing, there was actual air out here, gems didn't technically need oxygen to survive.

When he noticed the petals swirling through the air he knew, bounding to his feet and scrambling towards the sound, still dazed and musty from sleep. He found he bundle easily, dropping to his knees in surprise as he held the baby close to him, looking around at the wisps of pink swirling around his head.

Rose had done it, she'd managed to give birth to him.

Gently, Greg stroked his fingers through the newborns dusting of hair, looking him over in surprise. The child looked almost perfectly human, if it wasn't for the gem buried in his stomach. Stevens chirrups of surprise at being born stopped suddenly, and his father noticed he'd opened his eyes for the very first time, gazing up at him with a look of awe plastered across his tiny features.

"Um… Hi, Steven?" he muttered, blinking down at baby in surprise.

The little one squeaked again, his eyes unmoving as he wriggled slightly, both arms reaching up towards him.

Amethyst had been having a nap on a pile of junk she'd retrieved from the beach that afternoon when the first petal had fallen into her open mouth, sputtering a little as she sat up, looking around in confusion.

"Yuck…" She coughed, spitting it out and staring at the thing in her hand, and staring around her.

Realisation dawned on her almost as suddenly as she'd woken, the room was flooded with the petals, cascading down every one of the piles of rubbish in cluttering her room. So it had finally happened.

Rose had explained to all of them what was going to happen, and despite the cries and the complaints of the other gems, but she'd never expected it to happen this suddenly.

Scrambling off the pile she grabbed at the handfuls of flowers tumbling down through the temple, hugging them close to her as she closed her eyes, muttering into them the only thing she could think of: " _Thankyou_ , Rose."

Garnet had been meditating, sat on the floor of her room with her legs crossed as she contemplated life. This last month had been strange, the worry over Rose and her ever-growing human baby seemed to have ground life in the temple to a halt. The other two gems have been so busy fussing over her that they hadn't been concentrating on the other important aspect of their existence on earth, gathering up the last of the gems left over from the war.

She'd taken over the duty almost willingly, not sure she was ready to think about the possibility of what was going to happen. When it did, it would tear her apart.

The first few Rose petals didn't even disturb her, she'd become so used to strange things flying around the temple since amethyst had come to live with them she was almost immune. It was only when they became persistent did she bother to crack on eye open, looking around at the mountains of pink invading her private space.

The shock took a few moments to set in, and her form dissolved into light, and two much smaller gems came tumbling to the floor. Ruby righted herself in moments, yelling her irritation as she almost jumped on up and down on the spot: "How…. How…. How could Rose… Tonight!?"

"I suspected she might…" Sapphire muttered as she pulled herself into a more dignified position, brushing her hair out with her hand, her gaze focused on the pool of skirt between her knees rather than her lover: "I knew it wasn't going to be long…"

"Why didn't you tell me!" The other gem cried, hands on her hips as the floor beneath her feet started to burn: "You never…. Rose is gone. S-she's…" The floor below her started to curl up in flame as her hands went to her eyes, rubbing at the scalding water starting to drip down her cheeks.

"I knew you'd cry…" The blue gem pointed out softly, crawling across the floor and kneeling up, gently pulling her down into her arms, putting out the fire with one wave: "It'll be okay…"

"How do you know!" Ruby complained a few minutes later when she'd finally cried herself out, scrubbing at the residue on her eyes with a sniffle of annoyance.

"Let me show you?" Sapphire suggested softly, leaning up a little and pressing her forehead against the others, ignoring her tears as she closed her eyes, projecting the images in the back of her mind into the other gems. They were hazier than usual, but they where there, misty forms of a young boy dancing with the gems, Christmas trees and sandcastles across the beach. Ruby felt herself relax into the others arms finally, leaning up a little to press her lips over the others.

"Okay?" The blue gem muttered, barley separating their mouths.

"Okay."

The eldest of the gems had been practicing her latest ballet routine, peached on her toes as she finished the last plié, arms arched above her head in perfect formation when the first petals had come tumbling down her waterfall.

"Rose?" Pearl was almost used to the other gem watching her dancing, it had been one of the few things they'd still shared even after Greg had arrived on the scene: "Is that you?"

The moment she turned her smile faltered, she'd never seen that many petals before, they where spilling out from the water now, tumbling across the room in spirals.

" _Rose_?!" All the grace in her movement was lost as she ran forwards, grabbing at the flowers and pulling them into her arms. Was this... it couldn't be. Surely she would have said goodbye? Would she, the gem she'd adored for millennia really have disappeared like this?

Her knees gave out.

The hand on her shoulder wasn't the one she'd been expecting, or the hand that curled around her blade, gently tugging it from her grasp.

"I don't think he knows how." The human pointed out, almost softly as he threw aside her spear, the blade disappearing before it even hit the floor. Pearl froze, somewhere between horror and astonishment.

"Greg. What are you..."

"Well, Steven is kinda my son?" He pointed out, a noise almost like a laugh slipping out as he let her go, stepping back slightly: "And I got pretty worried when Amethyst said you where trying to behead him."

"Oh." The kindergarten brat was going to pay for that, surely she knew by now to keep her nose out of other peoples business?

Greg noticed the scowl curling at the gems lips and ducked around behind her, scooping up the bundle of baby from the floor and hugging him close: "She only did it because she cares!" He protested quickly, knowing that he was digging the other gem into a hole: "A-and because she's worried about you, Pearl. We all... Are you okay?"

"I'm _fine_ , Greg." She snapped, a little too loudly as her arms crossed her chest.

The baby whimpered at the noise, causing his father to look down in panic, bouncing him a little as he tried to shush him.

For a while, there was silence apart from the child's sniffling, until the human finally got up the nerve to speak again, managing to voice something that had been bothering him for hours: "I miss her too..."

Pearl felt her expression wrinkle a little at that, heat prickling behind her eyes as she snorted, unable to think of a good retort to that, she just turned her gaze to the sky.

"...I loved her too." Greg pointed out, shifting a little awkwardly as she looked down at the baby: "A-and... i get it. She didn't tell me either that she was going and its not... _where am I going with this_..." he stopped again, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly: "...Wanna hold Steven?"

She turned around in surprise at that suggestion, completely forgetting about the tears that had finally started to fall at the mention of the L-word. The gem had expected a full time ban after what he'd just seen her doing: "H-hold... him?"

"Yeah." The human persisted, closing the gap again with a smile as he held out the baby: "I think he likes it? He doesn't cry if you hug him."

"Right..." Pearl grumbled, but held out her arms anyway, gently wrapping them around his tiny torso: "How?"

"Uh. Just kinda..." He lent in and corrected her arms: "There. The baby book said its kinda like holding a really breakable watermelon."

The gem was too distracted to notice the strange comparison, looking down at the child again. Steven was looking at her the same way he'd been looking when she'd been digging a blade into him, it was something like confusion and adoration mixed into one. His pudgy hands reaching upwards to touch her.

"Huh. He likes you." Greg muttered when he realised, watching the bundle: "He yelled when Garnet picked him up..."

The comment almost brought a smile to the others lips as she lent in a little to let him touch her.


	9. Speak

(Prompt: Speak)

"You're not doing that right."

"You mean I'm not doing it _your_ way."

"Which means its _wrong_. Come here and let me show you."

"Urgh. Fine. You know I'm not a baby anymore. I can do things."

"Stop complaining and stand still."

"Done."

"Now, bend your arms up here, Amethyst, and keep your back straight."

"Dammit P. That _hurts_."

"Its _supposed_ to. Now stay still!"

The younger gem grumbled her annoyance at the feeling of the others hands correcting her again: "Urgh, Is it always this unconfutable?"

"Yes. That's why you're supposed to _practice_."

"Whatever for, P?"

"Because _practice_ makes perfect."

"Yeah and you're _so_ perfect."

Pearl felt her cheeks burning slightly at that, unsure if it was frustration or embarrassment at the others snark: "Shut up and stay still."

"I _am_ still."

"You're speaking, your mouth is still moving."

"I can't not talk!"

"Maybe you should try it."

"P, If I don't talk. The only one talking'll be you. And I'll die of boredom."

"I'm not that boring."

"Yeah you are."

"You moved. I told you to stay still if you want to do this right."

For a few moments the purple gem managed to stay silent, standing still in the exact position she was told to. The novelty wore off faster than Stevens ability to eat icecream.

"This is boring!"

"Its not _supposed_ to be exciting. Its not battle!"

"Then whys it useful?"

"Because it helps you concentrate, it it's a good way to relax."

"Can't I just relax by eating?"

"How on earth is tha….Nevermind. Do you want to do this or not?"

"Can't we do something exciting instead?"

"You were interested in this ten minutes ago."

"Eh. Maybe I just have a short attention thingy today."

"You always have one." Pearl sighed, settling down to sit cross legged on the floor, trying to ignore the other as she stretched.

Amethyst grinned as she dumped herself beside her: "Well P, _everything_ about me is short."

"You could change that…"

"Huh?"

"When you create your human form, you can change it, you can edit it to be however you want it to be. You could make yourself taller if you wanted."

"Why bother?" The younger gems beam of delight didn't shift as she morphed, turning into the other gem with a laugh: "I can just do this!"

The older scowled, tipping her head away in disgust: " _Great_."

"Or this." She shifted into Garnet, grinning in a way that didn't suit her in the slightest.

The others scowl didn't shift.

"Or this!"

"Stop that!" Pearl choose the wrong moment to glance around at the other gem, the beautiful purple haired version of Rose was towering over her, smiling in a way that didn't quite suit her. Scrambling backwards in her panic she tumbled off the edge of the rock she was balanced on, landing on her back in the dirt with a yelp.

"What this?" Flicking the long curls of hair over her shoulder she lent down slightly, offering a hand that was instantly slapped away: "Don't you think I'm pretty?"

"That's not funny Amethyst!" Her voice was somewhere between a cry and a scream as she tried to scramble away faster, hands slipping in the dirt: " _Stop it_!"

The younger gem grumbled in annoyance but relented, fading back into her standard form as she looked down at her friend, frowning slightly in confusion at the tears burning the others cheeks: "Geez, P. That was meant to be funny. No need to freak."

"Well it wasn't." She snapped, rubbing at her eyes: "Don't you _ever_ do that again."

Amethyst paused, she was going to tease, like usual, and brush off the way the older gem was looking at her. But there was something close to pain in her eyes, and it was making her unconfutable. "Sorry." She muttered, kneeling down and wrapping both arms around her without waiting for permission, trying to hug her: "I won't."

For the first time in a long time, Pearl didn't shove her off, and wrapped her own arms around the other gems body, clinging to her for comfort for the first time. The younger gems shifted slightly, gently stroking the others hair out through her fingers, it was a trick that was usually used the other way around, when the kindergarten gem was having a tantrum about something stupid or couldn't settle down.

For a while, there was silence between the two of them, curled up in each others arms. Amethyst, of course, broke it: "So…. Wanna try teaching me that ballet thing again? I bet I could do it this time!"

The older almost smiled at that, detangling herself and pulling herself up, brushing off the dirt spoiling her skirt and stepping around behind the other gem, her hands pressed against her back again, one curled around his wrist.

"Okay, bend your arms up here, Amethyst, and keep your back straight."


	10. Hungry

(Prompt: Hungry)

"My inside hurts." Amethyst whined, wrapping both of her stumpy arms around the other gems legs and gazing up, a pout on her lips: "Make it stop."

Garnet looked down in complete confusion at the other gem, Rose Quartz had arrived with her only a few years ago, after a routine investigation of the old kindergarten sight they'd uncovered the last remaining uncracked stone. The gems human form had been a lot smaller than anyone had expected, and it taken almost two years of coaxing from Pearl and Rose to get her to walk, rather than crawling (or rolling, something that she was surprisingly good at) around the temple.

"Have you been stabbed?" She asked, bending down to look at the younger gem, gently dislodging her arms and holding her away, examining her: "Have you been hurt? Is your gem okay?"

"Uh…Yeah?" The littlest gem scowled, her arms wrapping around her stomach as she pouted down at it: "I didn't do anything. Its just owchy…"

"Stay there." Garnet instructed after a few long moments of confused staring, standing up and placing her hand briefly on the others head: "I'm going to fetch Rose."

Amethyst shrugged and hugged her body tighter, doing as she was told by the other gem for the first time since she'd arrived, and stayed perfectly still until she saw the other returning, accompanied by Rose and Pearl, both of them looking worried.

"Amethyst, Are you okay?!" The lighter gem almost chirruped, dropping down infront of her and starting to investigate, examining every inch of her body as she turned her around: "Are you hurt?"

"No!" She protested crossly, trying to slap away pearls hands: "Its just my… here…" Amethyst waved her hand across her stomach, looking down at it: "Hurts."

Rose had stayed back for a few moments, watching the other two examining the youngest gem, a frown on her own lips as she bent down, sitting on the floor and gently drawing the little one in her arms almost protectively: "Pearl, be gentle with her, she's only little. Garnet, could you fetch my gem-scan? Amethyst, how long have you had this pain?"

The purple gem was almost be glad to be drawn into the soft folds of the others body, her arms wrapped tight around her neck. The oldest gem almost smiled at her, watching Garnet disappear and Pearls cheeks turning a strangle pastel blue as she looked away.

For the next twenty minutes they tried everything they could think of to try and stop the pain the little gem was in, feeding her half of Roses concoction and scanning every part of her. It was starting to worry all off them, especially when Amethysts stomach started to make growling sounds, almost as if someone had trapped a kitten inside her.

Unfortunately, the four of them where so caught up in working out what was wrong, that they didn't notice the human wondering into the temple behind them.

"Rose?" Greg asked when he noticed the four of them sat on the floor, crossing the marble with a frown: "Are you okay?"

"What are you doing here?" Pearl cut across before the pink gem had chance to answer, scowling as she crossed her arms over her chest: "Didn't you see th-"

"-Amethysts Ill…" Rose cut in before her comrade could finish that complaint, she was too busy worrying to deal with the argument she knew was going to break out.

Greg frowned, ignoring the other gem and crossing to his girlfriend's side, glancing down over her shoulder and looking at the purple gem in her arms: "Whats up, Kiddo?"

Amethysts pouted, waving her hands at her stomach with a huff: "It's broken."

"Umm…Have you eaten?" He asked, shrugging a little as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Eaten?" Amethysts eyes when wide at the suggestion, shifting a little to scramble up Roses shoulder and into his arms, latching around his neck with a curious smile.

"Yeah, I get aches when I'm hungry?"

Rose laughed, smiling at the two of them as she turned around: "I never even thought of that… Gems aren't supposed to need food… but maybe…"

"Food food food!" The little gem around Greg's neck chanted, bouncing up and down around him: "I want food!"

Garnet smiled at the three of them, leaning in slightly to disturb Pearl from her scowling, placing a hand on her shoulder and leading her away before she could say or do anything.

Roses smile widened a little as she pulled herself up from the floor, brushing her curls over her shoulder as she straightened her dress: "Okay, okay Amethyst. I guess we can try feeding you? Greg… Do you know somewhere we can get something?"

Twenty minutes later, and it seemed as if Greg's guess had been right. Amethyst was peached on the diner table with a mountain of pancakes that was almost as tall as she was, devouring them ravenously.

Rose couldn't help but smile as she watched, her hand curled around Gregs as he sipped at the coffee he'd bought.

"So…" He piped up, looking away from the little gems mission and up at her: "If gems don't need to eat… how come…"

"She's a little bit… different." Rose cooed, looking over at him with a smile: "I noticed she sleeps on an evening… almost the same way you do. I think she might have been in status on the earth so long that she's almost like a human child…"

"Hang on. You don't _sleep_?" Greg asked incredulously, gazing up at her with the coffee halfway to his mouth.

"Of course not, silly. I thought you'd noticed…"

"Uh." He laughed, shrugging slightly: "I thought you where just an early riser."

"We don't need to do that breathing thing you do either."

"Sometimes I forget you're a space gem…" Greg muttered, grinning through his embarrassment.

Rose blushed, smiling as she glanced over at Amethyst again. In the time it had taken for then to talk, the younger gem had demolished the entire pile of pancakes, and was laying on her back on the table, both hands resting on her now-round stomach.

"I think she feels better." The gem giggled, leaning over and brushing Amethysts hair out of her eyes, looking her over: "Are you okay?"

The other gem grinned, giving her a lazy thumbs up: "I like food!"


End file.
